Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 27) July 15

Free Republic | 07-15-2011 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners. It has been another week of hot humid weather. My little garden got its small share of a 60% chance of rain yesterday afternoon. A nice pop up T-storm spent about half an hour dropping a nice steady rain on my garden. There is a 70% chance of rain today. If the percentage for rain is not above 50 the pop up T-storms seem to pass me by. I did get to harvest about a dozen ripe tomatoes this past week but they are on the small side. My replacement paste tomato plants are coming along just fine so far. I will leave them to develop in their 5 inch peat pots for a couple of more weeks before setting them out in the garden.

If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.

I hope all your gardens are flourishing.

[Tatze]

My tomatoes are a tangle too, a jungle actually. I don’t think I’ll plant 1 per square foot again next year. I can’t see into the center to see what is ripe.

[Texas Fossil]

My garden has only survived because I was row watering (flooding).

Depending on the grade of the ground some of it has to be watered 3 passes in the same day. To allow it to soak in more evenly (high area vs low area).

Water most of it every 2 days. Usually pick the okra and squash and then water and leave alone for 2 days until time to pick again.

I put a drip irrigation system in for 22 of the new fruit trees. That helped, but still have to flood the basin around the trees about 1 time per month to settle the surrounding ground cracks.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I’ve come to the same conclusion. I’ll reduce the spacing to 10 vines to one 4 x 8 bed next year. A strict 1/1 should allow 48 plants. I knew that would be way too close. I thought that 14 might slip by, but it is far too close.

[tubebender]

Purple Cherokee are my all time favorite maters ever! I’m sure there are better ones in the hundreds that Jerry Baker offers but you can’t teach a old dog new eats. I have to buy my C/P at the farmers markets as they require heat to mature.

[afraidfortherepublic]

What is Dr. Earth?

[tubebender]

and speaking of Purple... One of the growers at yesterdays Street market had Purple Viking potatoes and I bought 8 of them, 4 to cut up for seed and 4 to cook. They have a lovely purple skin and a pure white flesh.

[afraidfortherepublic]

My husband was orking on the barn electrical the other night (still not done) and he came up to the house looking particularly crestfallen and mumbling something about a “tragedy”. He cut down a huge iece of a tree that was leaning precariously towards the barn. I expected that he was going to say that he crushed the barn.

No!

There was a bird’s nest with 4 featherless baby robins in it that fell to the ground. He hadn’t seen it before he started cutting. He picked up the chicks and put the back in their nest and put it in another, nearby tree.

Not to worry. Mom came back, and babies are doing fine. Electrical still not done. Maybe tonight.

[MtnClimber]

I have 3 Cherokee Purple tomatoes planted. Hope I get some before it freezes.

[Arrowhead1952]

My plants quit putting on fruit in this heat. Lots of blooms, but nothing setting now. Not even the cherry tomatoes have any fruit setting.

[who knows what evil?]

There are 14 tomato plants in a 4 x 8 space.

OMG. I have seven 'volunteers' that came up in a spinach bed in a space a little bigger than that; and it is complete CHAOS. But fourteen..?

[Arrowhead1952]

I have soaker hoses that I turn on for several hours, but we are wondering if the water cost is worth the worry trying to keep the plants alive.

[texas_mrs]

Your veggie garden plants need the two Ps.

Yes, this is why I think hubby's to blame. Great guy, just needs to stay out of my garden! ;)

[tubebender]

Dr Earth has several blends of fertilizers and micro-biotic ingredients. Click around on the site for more info...

[Texas Fossil]

I have water wells for 2 of my plots. And use water purchased from a supply system for my drip system on my new trees and to water my berry patches.

Not sure it is possible to purchase water for a vegetable garden and it make any economic sense.

[texas_mrs]

Where do you get/buy your black-eyed pea seeds?

[rightly_dividing]

I cannot imgaine growing 14 mater plants in a 4x8ft space. I would like to see pictures of that, and the rest of your garden. It really looked nice in the pictures that you posted a month ago. It looked so neat and well designed and built. I showed those pictures to wife, too. She does not have a FR id, she just reads this thread and the cooking thread, and some news.

I am back because I had to get out of the heat. Temp here is a cool 90 heading for 95 today, the coolest day in weeks. I had the maters staked with stakes that I cut from 2x4's, so they were about 7 1/2 ft tall. We just tied more limbs up this week because they were growing every in every direction. This is a couple of weeks ago, just before we straightened them up. They have gone wild since this picture. They are to the top of the stakes and were taking over the grassy area of the picture. We have not had any bugs or bird to attack the maters, and that is why we wanted to keep them staked upwards rather than grow across the ground where the bugs are. This being my first ever crop of ripe tomatos, I really have no idea what I am doing. Just guessing at it.

We had an 8ft Pencil Cactus in a 24" container to blow over, too.

Some storm! The second picture is of our westward sky, taken from the tomato row. It shows the shade that has blocked the 100 deg direct sun from them. It also shows the western portion of the sunny window in the tree canopy. We get about 4-5hrs of mid-day sun, which has worked out just fine for this year, next year, who knows, I might not be able to get the right conditions to grow anything.

[Arrowhead1952]

I don’t think I’d be allowed to drill a well in my city, but would if it is allowed.

[Texas Fossil]

Bought the blackeyed pea seed at a farm store in Spur, Texas.

You can also order them from Wilheit in Poolville, TX. They also normally sell knuckled purple hull peas (my favorite). They are an old company and still family owned I think.

http://www.willhiteseed.com/

[who knows what evil?]

My plants quit putting on fruit in this heat. Lots of blooms, but nothing setting now. Not even the cherry tomatoes have any fruit setting.

Would shade cloth or shade screen be of any benefit; or is it just the heat on its own?

[who knows what evil?]

How about some Earth Boxes or ‘global buckets’? They use less water, and it would be easier to shade them...my Earth Boxes churned out amazing levels of tomatoes right thru a 95/sunny month of August in Tennessee several years ago.